Berlin is simply an extremely historic and interesting city. Every corner seemed to have some story, church, sqaure, monument, or building where something happened. The architecture is fascinating because WWII devestated over 90% of Berlin. The city rebuilt most of the historical building to be replicas of their pre-war appearance. But, office buildings, neighborhoods, and shopping centers were all rebuilt (and are still being built) in very modern and new styles. The city still has a lot of construction on it and only a year ago Berlin decided what to do with the old location of the SS office. (Their decision was absolutely nothing, no one is allowed to build anything on it because of the horrible decisions and deeds carried out there)
We had a 6:30 am flight leaving from Standstead (1.5 hours away) so we left the dorm at 2:30 am! Needless to say, I passed out on the bus to the airport and on the plane. After landing in Berlin we immediately found our hotel which was only 3 train stops away from the airport! We stayed in the Park Inn in Alexander Platz which turned out to be a great hotel with an amazing location.
The Park Inn is located right next to the Berlin TV tower (4th largest free standing structure in Europe) and one could basically see both of them from anywhere in the city so we began to them "the beacons". Despite a room a 12th floor, we had a crappy view due to a construction site.
We freshened up and then headed out for a day of sightseeing. About 2 minutes out of our hotel we saw a DUNKIN DONUTS!!! We were so excited we literally jumped up and down and shrieked...people looked at us funny. (There are none in London!) We obviously stopped for coffees and they were amazing! DD really does taste different...it is so good! :-)
With coffee in hand we walked past the TV tower and into a park with pretty fountains and churches.
We grabbed and Italian lunch in St. Nicholas' quarter which was filled with cute little streets. We meant to go back later in the weekend but never got a chance.
We walked down the Unter den Liden which is a main street in Berlin. Frederick the Great loved Paris and modeled it after the Champs-Elysee in Paris. We walked all the way down it to the Brandenburg Gate to the meeting place of a free walking tour. The tour lasted 4 hours and was incredibly interesting and fun. There were about 120 of us so the tour guides broke us up into 4 sperate groups of 30. Oh and right near our tour meeting place was a Kennedy Museum! The Germans LOVE John F. Kennedy!
Our tour guide's name was Maria and she was extremely charismatic and passionate about Berlin! First, she told us about the Brandenburg Gate. It was built in the 1700s sometime and Napoleon actually dismantled it and sent parts of it to Paris to celebrate his conquest of Berlin. It was eventually returned to Berlin after the Battle of Waterloo. It was also one of the only structures to completely survive WWII.
Next Maria gave us a 10 minute version of the history of Berlin. She told us about the legend and reality of Berlin's name. The legend is that some fisherman way back when saw a cute little bear near a river and cried "Berlin!", because "ber" is bear in German and adding "lin" to something implies it is cute and feminine. But in reality these fisherman were Dutch and in their language "Berlin" means swamp.
She pointed out to the the brick line that runs along where the Berlin wall stood across the city. Apparently, the Berlin Wall was all thanks to the Soviet Union who put up it up literally overnight to keep people from the Soviet Union from escaping into the West. It was a huge surprise, literally seperate friends and family.
Maria took us the Holocuast Memorial which was just down the street. The memorial was built by an American Jewish architect. The Memorial is difintitely very different so people asked the designer what his message was and he refused to say because he wanted everyone to form their own opinion. Maria told us that it is always cold in the center of the memorial, even in the summer, due to all the cement. We walked through the memorial and it would not be good for people who are clastrophobic.
Around the corner from the Memorial was the location of Hiltler's Bunker which is basically a residential neighborhood now. Maria told us the story of Hitler's last night and how his body was found by the Soviet Union. The Bunker was destroyed and no signs of it were left, not even a plaque or tourist panel for people to read. Maria said that tourists would come looking for it and bother the residents to ask about its location so they finally put up one sign disignating the area. However, it was very plain and I would never have noticed it if Maria had not pointed it out.
Next we visited the only standing Nazi building in Berlin, the headquarters of the Luftwaffe. Maria was very cute as she said to us, "the building remains a very sinster and dark one. They turned it into....THE TAX OFFICE". Infront of the building was a famous square where a masacre took place in the 1950s, I beleive 109 protestors were shot by the government.
Around the corner from the dreaded tax office was the old site of the SS headquarters which now is an empty construction lot. Apparently after lots of debate the government has decided that nothing should ever be built there. Then, we saw a real chunk of the Berlin Wall! I couldn't touch it or anything because people were steading parts of it and to preserve it the government put a fence around it.
From the Berlin Wall we moved onto Check Point Charlie (total tourist trap) which is where Americans could cross into the West of Berlin and come back through with the appropriate paperwork. The whole was totally torn down but now there is some tourist trap thing where it use to be.
After a quick break we walked to Paris Square and on the way saw an amazing chocolate shop. Its name was Fassbender & Rausch and it was amazing! To prove they were the best they built a chocolate Reichstag, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtnis-Kirche!, and a TITANIC! It was so cool!
Paris Square was built in honor of the French Huguenots that immigrating into Berlin after they were expelled from France. There is a French Protestant church there and the Berlin Concert Hall as well.
Just around the corner from Paris Square is the infamous Bebelplatz where Hitler's notorious book burning on May 10, 1933 occurred. He burned about 20,000 books that he deemed inappropriate and had them banned and then burned. Now, the only book banned in Germany is "Mein Kampf". There is a great memorial there now. First, one can look down through glass into an empty library, and nearby there is a plaque with a quote from Heinrich Heine in 1820 stating: "This is just a beginning, when they start by burning books, it ends with burning people". Its ironic because the he was one of the authors whose books were burned by the Nazis 110 years later. It was one of my favorite memorials and stops along a the tour.
One of our last stops on the tour was a memorial for "Victems of War and Violence". It was inside a pretty building and was very moving in its simplicity.
The tour ended at the Berliner Dome so Hillary and I headed inside to take a look. It was very pretty.
Oh and FYI:the Germans LOVE the "its okay to cross the street guy". He has his own name
(which is really long and I can't remember), shops and restaurants. No joke, its hilarious. Here is a picture of Hillary with him...
So Hillary and I both really don't like traditional Germany food like sausages....so we decided to go out for asian food at Pan Asia. It was so good! And I experimenting because I am trying to expand my food tastes. The first experiment, absinthe, was terrible. I did not realize it tasted like black licorice so I had one sip of a mixed absinthe drink and then had to send it back. But my good experiment was trying Japanese Tempura. I really liked it! Hillary got Pai Tai and loved it!
After our delicious dinner we of course needed a dessert...so we went on a hunt and found a Haagen Dazs! We both ordered full out desserts and split them. It was amazing!
Sunday, March 22 Hillary and I woke up early to go up the Reichstag. Apparently the Reichstag can have a line of an hour or two in the winter and a few hours in the summer! Obviously we stopped for some more Dunkin before arriving at the Reichstag around 8:30. The Dome is gorgeous! The Dome is representative of democracy; it is open to the public and looks down into Parliment. Therefore, if the German government ever needs reminding who is in charge, they can just look up and see the people. Inside the Dome there is a great structure covered with mirros and a pathway to walk up to the roof of the Reichstage. I really enjoyed it! It was very pretty and interesting architecture.
Hitler supposedly hated the Reichstag because it represented democracy and he never entered it. One night during the Nazi regime it mysteriously burned down in a fire that started in 5 seperated places at once. Hitler blammed in the communists but historians are pretty sure Hitler organized it. It was rebuilt after the war.
After the Reichstag we headed off to Schloss Charlottenburg which was a royal palace for a couple hundred years. We took the audio tour which was great and very informative and then explored the gardens.
After the palace we headed back into the city. We accidentally came across Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gadachtnis-Kirche, a church that was torn apart by the WWII bombings and never repaired. It was very moving...
From the church we went on to the Pergamon, which is the German version of the British Museum (a museum of stuff jacked from other coutnries). Hillary and I chose this museum because it hold the Gates of Babylon and we were told it was one of the 7 wonders of the world. However, when I got home I reserached it and discovered that the Gates of Babylon use to be one of the 7 wonders of the world until someone in the 700s replaced it with the Lighthouse of Alexandria. It was still very pretty and I am glad we went. The museum also held the Pergamon Alter (which the museum is named after) and the Market Gate from Miletus.
The museum was our last big tourist thing. We headed back to the hotel and grabbed dinner there.
Overall, Berlin is one of my favroite cities. The changes Berlin has gone through is remarkable and its history is so complex. Events in Berlin really did shape the last 100 years and I am so glad I went.
I have heard that it has this huge youth culture and club scene but I did not have a chance to experience it. Hopefully I can experience the next time I go back!
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